Visiting professor works with Horton School of Music

The Horton School of Music hosted a guest lecturer/conductor recently who also was the guest conductor during the Inauguration Concert Oct. 28.

Dr. Noel Tredinnick, professor of conducting and academic studies at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and organist, conductor and director of music at All Souls Church, also served as a delegate for the Guildhall School at Dr. Dondi Costin’s Inauguration Oct. 29.

Tredinnick and Dr. Marshall Forrester, professor of music and director of instrumental studies, have known each other for 20 years. Tredinnick works with Langham Arts America, a nonprofit, and was visiting the US and contacted Forrester about visiting CSU. Forrester realized it would be during the time of the Inauguration and that the Costins had requested some of the very same songs for the Inauguration Concert that Tredinnick and Forrester had done in the past together.

In another connection, Costin attended All Souls Church several times during the time he was stationed at Mildenhall Air Force Base in the UK.

Reflecting on his time working with the Horton School of Music, Tredinnick said, “Your music department is very impressive. Guildhall is one of the top conservatories in the world, and I can come here and think these students are getting good teaching and mentoring.”

Tredinnick views music as a great force binding Christians together. Christians singing together is a communal agent for building the body of Christ.

“A visit such as Dr. Tredinnick’s gives students a broader cultural perspective and allows them to see the differences and similarities between cultural practices in the US and other parts of the world,” said Forrester. “Within a performing arts rehearsal setting however, it’s many times more effective – it’s as if the bland ‘compare and contrast’ essay question comes to life and students are transported to another land.”

Tredinnick said there are more opportunities for students in the US versus the UK to make a living with a music career. “In the US, there is more a divide of secular and sacred,” said Tredinnick for those pursuing music. “In the UK, most musicians have to do both to sustain a living,” he said. “In the US, you can make a living as a church musician. The economics are slightly different.”

He encouraged those interested in a career in music to persevere. He said talent rises to the surface, and the student’s passion will come through. “You may have bumps, but God has a plan for each of us,” said Tredinnick. “It’s the people with persistence in the end who are going to make it. People who don’t give up.”

Tredinnick has been to Charleston several times, but this was his first time visiting Charleston Southern. He said, “It’s a refreshment for me to come here – from the top of the bridges you can see for miles, and see blue sky and trees.” 

“Tredinnick works in collaboration with the US-based mission organization, Langham Arts America, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary, and actively raises funds to send music and mission teams into areas (especially in Europe) that are spiritually dry and humanly disadvantaged. The Gospel and Music always feed each other well, and the witness of musicians is always a truly effective way of commending the Good News.”

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